Jammin' Java (Part Two)

So… I have finally got all the audio files from the live recording transferred, and have begun the process of listening back, and rough mixing, and can finally write a quick note about the show. Though I was under the impression that we’d be recording straight to Pro Tools®, the on-site studio was in fact only set up to record to (MOTU’s) Digital Performer; a fine platform, but necessitating some extra steps for me. I guess they “have” Pro Tools there, but… whatever. I’d brought with me a 60 GB FireWire drive and a 160 GB USB 2.0/FireWire drive, in hopes of writing directly to one of them, but we couldn’t quite get that to work… however, engineer Bobby McIntyre converted Digital Performer’s raw audio files to .WAV format, and burned them over two (2) DVD-R discs (4.7 GB capacity each — exactly 6.0 GB total of data — 85 minute show recorded on 14 channels at 16-bit/44.1 kHz). My good friend Mike Harvey at Actiondale Recorders lent me an external DVD-RW drive which ran flawlessly on my Pro Tools machine (a Dell Dimension 8200), and after quickly setting up a new PT session, importing and synching the audio was a snap.
Slowly working up some rough mixes — here’s a short clip of a rough mix of “What Did You Mean”… more to come. Performance-wise, it was a tough night for us, as the venue, nice as it is, is really best suited to acoustic performers (even though they actively book rock acts)… the brick wall behind and along the sides of the stage, along with all the rest of the hard surfaces in the room, make it extremely reflective, acoustically… and as soon as you introduce a rock drum kit and some guitar amplifiers, you end up with a situation where it’s very difficult to properly monitor your vocals, no matter how low you try to keep the instruments, and how hard you try to push the monitors.
But the crowd was great, really supportive, and the sound out front was by all accounts excellent, even among one of the better shows we’ve done. That’s the latest, more news and sound clips to follow…!